[09/01/26] Kan, Pearl: My Uppalavanna

My Uppalavanna takes its title from the legendary Buddhist nun who was enlightened by staring into lamplight as she swept in the evening—and Pearl Kan’s debut collection follows that luminous, domestic gesture into the fullness of contemporary life. Navigating the paradox between spiritual emptiness and the irreducible particulars of the world—lost teeth and dynamited buddhas, pelicans low against the cold sea, a child’s sunrise lifted on butter and milk—these spare, precise poems move between Zen practice, motherhood, and the mystery of everyday perception with utter clarity. Both incantatory and quietly vernacular, My Uppalavanna is an astonishing first collection.